Josep Santacreu will almost certainly be the consensus candidate who will be supported by the big business organizations for the next elections to the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce. At the moment, a group of prominent businessmen, from very diverse sectors and ideologies, are finalizing their candidacy to compete with the one also being prepared by Eines de País, the pro-independence team that won four years ago by an overwhelming majority.
Now, part of what is known as the establishment wants to avoid the division that occurred in 2019 with Enric Crous and Carles Tusquets competing for the same groups of voters and in the end they lost the elections. For this reason, for months contacts have been carried out with the utmost discretion between large companies and also business associations.
Sources familiar with these contacts assure that the name of Santacreu, a manager with a recognized professional career, is well regarded in the business world. For years, the former director of DKV was part of Femcat, an association of a nationalist nature, although the process that is underway aims for a "great transversality without ideological bias of any kind".
"It was not within my expectations, but I have valued the proposal and I think it is a great opportunity to form a candidacy integrating business diversity, from the self-employed, SMEs to large companies. The intention is to prepare "a collegial, non-presidential leadership", explained Santacreu to La Vanguardia. His decision has also been favored by the fact that he now has more availability after leaving the position of chief executive of DKV at the beginning of March.
Santacreu also insists that a team "with ideological diversity" is being prepared, without ties to any acronym or organized thought groups or political orientation.
The team that is being formed could also include the future successor, the person who could run for the presidency in 2027.
The lobbying group is now waiting for them to announce the election and the timelines for the process, starting with what it will establish until when candidates can run.
The chamber is not unfamiliar territory for Santacreu, who was part of the plenary session of the institution during three of the mandates of the late president Miquel Valls, although he did not run in the last elections
But winning the elections is not an easy task. It is necessary to have candidates capable of winning their seat in each of the 52 groups, the so-called economic sections, from which the members of the plenary come, who will then elect the president and the executive committee.
With this electoral model of headings, an attempt is made to guarantee the presence of all business sectors based on their economic importance in the territory, which demonstrates the capacity that the institution can have to have capillarity in all areas of activity economic But it is also very complex to campaign and gather votes, because some groups include very diverse and very atomized sectors. It is not enough just to have the support of the most relevant companies in each group, but it is vital to get the support of the associative world, guilds, professional associations and business organizations of all kinds. It is something that is very clear to the group promoting Santacreu's candidacy, which has already begun to gain support from the numerous Catalan associative world.
There are 52 headings in which the battle will be fought, 12 more than four years ago. The increase is explained by the decision of the current management team, headed by Mònica Roca, which has changed the rules of the internal regime to reduce the seats that are occupied in exchange for a financial contribution, the so-called chairs of silver It has gone from 14 to just 2.
In the media close to the candidacy, it is highlighted that the Chamber of Barcelona is a key instrument for the business fabric, in particular, in the field of internationalization and training, and also for its role as interlocutor with the administrations. These same sources emphasize that in this last mandate the entity has not demonstrated sufficient operational and executive capacity, largely due to its politicization, which is why a change of course is necessary. "We must aspire to a less bureaucratic chamber, more operational and more oriented towards its main clients: the entrepreneurs", they pointed out.
Although the elections are not expected until September, the movements have long since begun. Starting with the Country Tools itself. Despite the fact that she has not made it clear in public, it is taken for granted that President Mònica Roca will not run for office again, although she could be part of the list of candidates in her corresponding section. This same week Joan Canadell, ex-president of the chamber and deputy of Junts, has told the newspaper Ara his intention to run again to be a member of the plenary. In the previous elections, Eines de País prevailed with 31 of the 40 votes that were put to the vote, a very large majority that has allowed it to govern without opposition these past four years.
